Five Years at Microsoft and Next Adventures

Five years?  Really? Yes, it’s been five years since I joined Microsoft and I can honestly say, it’s been a blast!

I’ve been doing the odd-year anniversary posts- 1, 3 and now 5 years at Microsoft.   What are some of the top reasons to work at Microsoft from my own experience?

• Great managers.  I’ve had, overall, the best direct managers of any company, while here at Microsoft.  I really appreciate the great training they give Microsoft management and I think it does help ensure that you have managers that are present to make your workday better.
• Cool benefits-  I can’t tell you how cool benefits like Perks bucks are.  I have used them to improve my day-to-day work and health.  I have bought better work equipment, a standup board, a bimini for my kayak and a fantastic treadmill.  I’d likely never had bought this for myself and its money that is given to you to spend each year to improve your life and your health.
• Work from home without pressure to return to the office.  I’m aware of other big tech companies pressuring employees to return to the office, but never had this pressure from Microsoft.  If you’re an ADHD’r like me, the idea of going back into a noisy, distracting office is akin to Dante’s nine circles of hell, then you will appreciate a company that values remote workers.
• Technical challenges- I LITERALLY built the role I have today.  It didn’t exist when I joined the company and a lot of this is due to strong leadership which said, “build it and I will support it.”  The technical challenges were insurmountable, but I was allowed to take these on and build what was required to be successful.

My role as an Oracle SME in the Customer Success Architecture and Engineering Team has been a great home for me the last 3.5 years.  I’ve been able to work with a few other folks and we built something we were told would never exist at Microsoft- a Product Group for Oracle on Azure.  We now have technical resources, documentation, frameworks, Global Black Belts for Oracle on Azure and full marketing and sales teams.  With this, my goals are complete on what I came to Microsoft to build, so what is next?

While at Microsoft, I discovered I’m really, really good at building out a vision.  I can balance monstrous demands, all while understanding technical, customer, marketing and business needs.  It became a bit of an inside joke, as the project grew and people joined the Oracle army, that everyone attempted to lean in, I had become the central point of Oracle knowledge at Azure.  As jobs were handed out, no matter who they were assigned to, you’d hear someone quip, “Well, they’ll be calling Kellyn after they leave this call..”  Everything kind of came back to me and it gave me a lot of purpose, but again, now that the Oracle PG and accelerator is launched, what’s next?

I became very aware that I wouldn’t be satisfied just doing the technical part of my official role any longer.  It’s time for me to do more and to do so, means I need to go somewhere smaller and with more flexibility than a larger tech company can offer.  I enjoy what I do but need to do more- I want to re-invest in my multi-platform skills, want to work in new technology and invest more time in AI and machine learning, which I’ve been kind of doing on my own time right now.

What I’m trying to say is that my last day at Microsoft will be May 31st and I’ll be moving onto a fantastic opportunity to build on the vision that is Silk as their Director of Technical Advocacy.  

I will remember my years with Microsoft fondly and look forward to continuing my work with Azure customers and account teams as part of the Silk team.